Waters vs.Gilmour-Who's the best vocalist ?
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Topic: Waters vs.Gilmour-Who's the best vocalist ?
Posted By: the lighthouse keepe
Subject: Waters vs.Gilmour-Who's the best vocalist ?
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 19:19
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Waters and Gilmour both have very distinctive voices but who has the best? Judge them within Pink Floyd,and also throughout their solo career too! PICK YOUR FAVOURITE/BEST VOCALIST! ------------- "Hello sun.Hello bird. Hello my lady. Hello breakfast.May I buy you again tomorrow?" |
Replies:
Posted By: Michael678
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 19:54
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Gilmour FTW ------------- Progrockdude |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 21:07
| This one is difficult. Neither of them are among the flashiest or strongest singers, but still they are among my favourites. I think Gilmour is the better singer, with warmer and more beautiful voice, but Waters is more unique and emotional. I think they were best when they worked together and each sang the parts that fit better (even better when they both sang in the same song)... and having Wright available was even better still (I guess Dark Side would be the best example for what the three together could achieve). |
Posted By: Gyges
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 21:39
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Some of The Wall could not have been replicated by anyone. That is where Waters made his mark for me, because the work was so personal and so owned by him. The Gilmour parts where I feel the same would include a lot of More, Umma Gumma, Meddle, the soft parts are where he really killed it. |
Posted By: HackettFan
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 22:09
| No disrespect to Waters intended, but the answer is Gilmour. |
Posted By: Progosopher
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 22:20
Well said.  I prefer Gilmour by far, but PF was at their best with all three of the vocalists available.------------- The world of sound is certainly capable of infinite variety and, were our sense developed, of infinite extensions. -- George Santayana, "The Sense of Beauty" |
Dellinger wrote:Posted By: Imperial Zeppelin
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 22:56
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David by far ------------- "Hey there, Dog Man, now I drink from your bowl." |
Posted By: Pastmaster
Date Posted: December 06 2015 at 23:51
| Gilmour |
Posted By: Cristi
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 00:46
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Gilmour also I enjoy Wright's singing more than Waters |
Posted By: The-time-is-now
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 02:07
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Gilmour. -------------  One of my best achievements in life was to find this picture :D |
Posted By: Hercules
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 03:23
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I really don't rate Waters either as a vocalist or a bass player. His strength was in ideas and songwriting. Gilmour is a good vocalist (personally I thought Rick Wright was the best singer in Floyd) but not exceptional. As a guitarist, he's up there with the best, not for technical ability but for his ability to convey emotion. ------------- A TVR is not a car. It's a way of life. |
Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 04:28
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I've always preferred Waters' sultry vocals to Gilmour's raunchier and "grattier" one... Listen to Comfortably Numb to understand what I mean But I like both anyways
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Posted By: Svetonio
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 08:08
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Gilmour. |
Posted By: addictedtoprog
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 08:40
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Gilmour. Waters is ok. |
Posted By: DDPascalDD
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 08:43
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Wright is the best singer but in combination with Gilmour even better. Though between Waters and Gilmour I can't choose... Sometimes Waters is perfect like in Nobody Home (although sometimes he ruins a song (e.g. One of My Turns)). Gilmour's voice is sometimes more pleasant to hear like in A Pillow of Winds. Went for Waters because he deserves more votes. ------------- |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 10:28
| ^^^ Right, Waters blows hot and cold. In some songs (Nobody Home being a particularly great example) he is very effective and in some he is quite painful. He bit off more than he could chew on The Wall, frankly, and exposed his limitations pretty thoroughly. Gilmour is solid and consistent, rarely going over the edge but almost always a pleasure to listen to whether it's the soft numbers like Pillow in the Wind or the hard rockers like Young Lust. After they parted ways and Gilmour/Wright/Mason continued to perform the classics live, Gilmour could still do justice to songs sung by Waters (arguably rendered Shine On better than Waters) but would Waters have been able to do vice versa? I am curious. I am completely blindsided to live Waters so...has Waters sung say Young Lust/Nile Song on stage? IMO Gilmour would have landed a gig as a singer in some or the other band even if he wasn't such a great guitarist - he had both the melodic and gritty aspect of rock singing covered. Waters...I am not so sure. More like his songwriting vision allowed him to reach moments of vocal madness even when the execution left plenty to be desired. |
Posted By: sublime220
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 11:29
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Rick>David>Syd>Roger>Nick (He could be higher if he did more songs. I love Clegg) ------------- There is no dark side in the moon, really... Matter of fact, it's all dark... |
Posted By: O666
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 12:52
| Waters |
Posted By: someone_else
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 13:28
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Gilmour, but I am glad that he did not sing the songs Waters did. And his voice has aged better... ------------- 
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Posted By: Wanorak
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 13:46
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Gilmour though neither are great singers. ------------- A GREAT YEAR FOR PROG!!! |
Posted By: Man With Hat
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 14:05
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Gilmore is the best, but my favorite is Waters. ------------- Dig me...But don't...Bury me I'm running still, I shall until, one day, I hope that I'll arrive Warning: Listening to jazz excessively can cause a laxative effect. |
Posted By: TheLionOfPrague
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 14:24
This. ------------- I shook my head and smiled a whisper knowing all about the place |
Posted By: DDPascalDD
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 14:58
^There's more Wright singing preference than I expected, maybe we should do a Gilmour - Wright poll?
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Posted By: sublime220
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 17:24
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Mason vs. Torry vs. Harper ------------- There is no dark side in the moon, really... Matter of fact, it's all dark... |
Posted By: Dellinger
Date Posted: December 07 2015 at 22:06
| I don't understand why Waters is so overlooked... even disliked, as a singer/vocalist around here, while Peter Gabriel is considered the best there's been. Both are very theatrical, and base their vocals on concepts they created. I find Waters singing much more enjoyable, emotional, better sung, and I like Waters concepts much more than Gabriel. |
Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: December 08 2015 at 09:48
| Gabriel is so much better at melodic singing it's not even close vis-a-vis Waters. And you know I am definitely not a huge fan of the former's singing. I do prefer Waters for hard rocking songs, also way better at delivering bitter/caustic/ironic-what have you lines (Dogs being a particularly good example). Again, I have come across a live performance of Dogs (from that time) where Gilmour sang Waters' parts too. Just how well does Waters' instrument hold up live? IMO (and certainly in comparison to Gilmour or Gabriel) it's kinda suspect. |
Posted By: DDPascalDD
Date Posted: December 08 2015 at 10:27
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I've seen you writing that some time ago but I think indeed that Gabriel sings much more melodic. I personally like the colour of his voice more and he has a greater reach. ------------- |
Posted By: dr wu23
Date Posted: December 08 2015 at 10:29
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^^ this....though I do like Gabriel's vocals ...a unique voice and melodic when needed. IMHO Waters doesn't even make my top 50 singers or bass players.......he excelled at concepts and lyrics...end of story for me.
------------- One does nothing yet nothing is left undone. Haquin |
Posted By: Follix
Date Posted: December 08 2015 at 12:47
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I think Gilmour voice is pretty much like his guitar playing: Not technically amazing (not a lot of speed on the axe or amazing vocal range) but very melodic and an amazing tone. Roger is not really a good singer, a good vocalist maybe because he can (in fact could) put a lot of emotion in his voice but that's about it. Just listen to Wish You Were Here during live 8 and you will see the striking difference between both. So yes David Gilmour for me, easily. |
Posted By: O666
Date Posted: December 08 2015 at 13:04
| Waters sound and style is Unique . I didn't hear copy or clone (even similar) of Waters voice and style till now. But there are too many Gabriel and Gilmour copies specially Gabriel copies in Prog Music scene. IMO Gabriel is better than Gilmour and Waters and "To Be Unique or Not" isn't enough for me in this thread. When you have too many copies (some of them are very good copies!!!) of a singer , You can't say Unique to him/her. Gabriel better than Waters but he isn't "Unique" IMO. (I just talked about singing not composing or ...) |
Posted By: MFP
Date Posted: December 08 2015 at 15:30
| Gilmour |
Posted By: AZF
Date Posted: December 10 2015 at 03:29
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Waters has a genuine X Factor about his voice. Long before the TV ruined that phrase. But that said his best work was always with the other person in the poll for singing his words. If Gilmour was right about 1983 "From then on everything we did would have to go past Roger so he could register and mark it like some tutor". I've paraphrased that last bit something chronic! If that was the case, then Gilmour should have said "Well if that's the way you want it, Waters, then give me the material that justifies this relationship! And not "Pros and Cons of Hitch-Hiking, as that's sh*t!"
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Posted By: iluvmarillion
Date Posted: December 10 2015 at 21:29
There's hundreds of good bass players and thousands of good singers. How many artists are there out there as good at concepts and lyrics as Roger Waters?
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Posted By: Roj
Date Posted: December 11 2015 at 08:16
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The best way to put this is I wouldn't want Gilmour singing any of the Floyd songs where Waters sang lead. And vice versa. Both are essential to Floyd's music. Probably the best technically would be Gilmour. |
Posted By: Saltychuck79
Date Posted: December 11 2015 at 08:35
Waters is so emotional with the way he sings though. I personally think Gilmour is a better singer, but Roger Waters knows how to pull my heart-strings with his voice... Sad... 
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: December 11 2015 at 08:51
That may well be so but the question asked was about who was the better vocalist so dr wu's answer was on point. Besides which, I don't believe there are thousands of good singers. Maybe thousands with a good voice and decent diction and that's it. Very few with a good understanding of phrasing and what to do with it, which is why most singers in a given genre sound uniformly similar and only a few stand out (who either have a very idiosyncratic style as such or who simply use phrasing to great effect). Come to think of it, even Gilmour is pretty bland and predictable when it comes to phrasing.
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Posted By: Frosted Celt
Date Posted: December 16 2015 at 23:29
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Roger Waters ------------- 
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Posted By: FragileBrick
Date Posted: December 17 2015 at 08:23
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To me, none of them are "good" singers technically speaking. If we think of great Prog singers such as Francesco di Giacomo, Derek Shulman or Peter Gabriel, I think that Waters and Gilmour are far below in their singing abilities. They can intonate pretty well in a limited range of notes, but that's all. I love many things about Pink Floyd, but I'm afraid vocals isn't one of them.
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Posted By: rogerthat
Date Posted: December 17 2015 at 10:03
Is Derek Shulman a great vocal technician? Possibly, granting that pulling off those complicated harmonies takes a good measure of skill. A great SINGER? I would have to disagree. Vocals are a much bigger weakness of Gentle Giant than they are of Floyd. Shulman doesn't have a wide range, sounds 'just the same' in most songs and very much lacks personality. Minnear is a little better, but only a little. But GG were way too proggy to be bothered about things like vocals! 
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Posted By: sublime220
Date Posted: December 17 2015 at 10:32
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I'm always surprised with the hate with GG's vocals. I think that, with the possible exception of stupid, sexy Robert Plante, every member of the Giant had the most beautiful vocals ever. I can't explain why. They're just perfect. ------------- There is no dark side in the moon, really... Matter of fact, it's all dark... |
Posted By: Dayvenkirq
Date Posted: December 17 2015 at 12:46
| Dave. Imagine Roger singing all of "Dogs". It wouldn't be nearly as good. |
Posted By: uduwudu
Date Posted: December 24 2015 at 02:09
If you want the straight vocalist to make heavy material socially acceptable then the choice is DG. Great tone, even a hard sounding voice, commanding. Apparently he is also noted as a guitarist as well, but that is neither here nor there.  But the character of Waters' vocal is prevalent. He was often noted as being some one who could "bend" his voice and be unique characters from Ummgumma but especially noticeable on the Wall where they both shine (!) at their best. A good example is Comfortably Numb. Heaven knows the brighter major key refrains by Gilmour are both difficult and superbly done but no one has come close to the sinister qualities required by Waters' parts on this classic. Except Rog. Rog had tremendous trouble with his vocals, he is not a natural singer and has to work very hard at it. But it's DG that has the voice which, oddly perhaps is why he was there in the first place. His soloing did not really get going until later in PF's career. As for Wright, of course his fragility and the three work best on both Dark Side and Obscured By Clouds although Pompeii does make this more evident with the use of the visuals. |